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And if you don’t brag about the good you do, then you will be truly wise! James 3:13 (NLT)

If anyone ever had bragging rights, it was Jesus. A life-long leper . . . bang . . . now you’re healed. A dead daughter . . . no problem . . . she’s alive. Thousands of hungry people . . . check it out . . . more than enough to go around. A demon-possessed boy, a man born blind, a paralytic . . .

We could go on and on, because Jesus did so many extraordinary things. And let’s be honest, if we had performed any one of these miracles, everyone within earshot would have heard about it . . . from us.

Which is what makes Jesus all the more amazing. He didn’t brag or boast about Himself at any point. Isn’t it amazing that Jesus didn’t even write the gospels? They were all written with the help of others who witnessed what He had done. People tracked Him down and wrote about the miraculous things that He had done (John 3:2).

Just as Isaiah prophesied several centuries before, Jesus was never into self-promotion.

He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. (Isaiah 42:2 NKJV)

We’re called to imitate Christ, even when it comes to the way we handle our accomplishments. If we brag about the good that we do, then we’re demonstrating how unwise and un-Christ-like we are. Remember, the One with the bragging rights didn’t, so don’t brag or boast about the good things that you do. Demonstrate your wisdom by keeping quiet. When you do, you’ll be following in Jesus’ footsteps. Your quiet and humble demeanor will also be sending a strong message in a world full of boasters.

“But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 66:2 NKJV)

‘But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released . . . -Leviticus 25:28 (NKJV)

Beware of the hoarder’s mentality. What’s that? It’s the mindset that ensnared and ultimately destroyed Hetty Green.

In 1834, Hetty was born into a family that owned a successful whaling company. Eventually, she inherited the family fortune and went on to become the personification of stinginess. She would never turn on the heat or use hot water, and she wore only one black dress for most of her life. When her son broke his leg she tried to have him treated at a charity ward. When they recognized her and refused treatment, she left, vowing to care for the leg herself. Sadly, gangrene set in and her son’s leg had to be amputated. In her old age, she suffered from a hernia, but she refused the operation because it cost $150. She died a very wealthy but miserable and broken woman.

That’s the hoarder’s mentality. It’s when a person’s possessions actually possess him. The person’s sense of security is so founded in money that the almighty dollar becomes god, and he will do anything to protect it.

God had a way of preventing His people from falling prey to this . . . the Year of Jubilee. Here’s how it would work; every fifty years all debts would be cancelled. Properties that had been sold would go back to their original owners. That way, a person’s real estate acquisitions were only temporary. The hoarder’s mentality didn’t have a chance to set in because they all understood that what they had was only temporarily theirs.

In the same way, all that we have is on loan from God. It’s not really ours to begin with. We’re stewards, not owners. If we see our possessions this way, then they won’t have the power to posses us.

I am certainly guilty of hoarding…but not usually of things, more often I hoard situations and positioning. That’s something I am working on….
Consider this today as you begin your week. Are you a hoarder or do you realize how God owns it all anyway and we are just temporal managers over these earthly things….be blessed…

Keith